"The threads of secrecy began to unravel, and the whispers of truth started to echo through the shadows."
Chapter # 09 .
Dayylam arrived at his house and parked the car. It was a two-story house, and he walked past the porch before ringing the bell.
Inside the house, Danielle, wearing a nightgown, nervously paced back and forth in front of the door.
Her hair was tied in a bun, but some strands of her brown hair had fallen over her brows. Her face was lovely and could be counted among the beautiful ones, although there were some wrinkles near her eyes and chin that revealed her age, indicating she was in her forties.
Danielle impatiently waited for him, and upon hearing the sound of the bell, she hurried to the door and opened it for him. He entered without saying or asking anything and went directly into the room. She closed the door behind him and followed him. Upon reaching the room, she locked the door from inside.
He sat on the bed, placing his briefcase beside him, and loosened his tie. Danielle carefully observed his actions, noticing that he appeared tense. It was contrary to her expectations; she had anticipated him to be happy, but he didn't seem happy at all.
She waited for him to say something, but since he remained silent, she couldn't hold back her concern any longer. She placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Dayylam, what happened? You seem tense. Are you okay?"
He didn't utter a word but let out a sigh in response. Danielle couldn't bear the suspense any longer. She gathered her courage and finally asked the question she had been wanting to know, her voice almost a whisper, "Did you retrieve the money from there?"
She waited patiently, hoping for a satisfying answer from him. Dayylam forced a smile and handed her the briefcase.
"Yes, I managed to retrieve half of the money. You'll need to take out the other half from the clinic's locker soon, we cannot delay anymore " Dayylam stated in a dull voice. The woman's face lit up with joy, and she immediately embraced him tightly. "Oh, honey!" she exclaimed before pulling away and opening the briefcase.
The briefcase was filled with bundles of currency notes, and she eagerly took out one bundle, savoring the scent of the money. "Ah! Thank you so much, Dayylam," She said, hugging him once more.
"But, honey, we should be happy now that our dreams are about to come true. Why aren't you as happy as you should be?" After mesmerizing herself with the scent of the currency notes and satisfying herself with their presence, she noticed her husband's sad and withered face. So, she asked out of courtesy because at that moment, there was nothing in her eyes and mind except the bundles of notes and their captivating aroma.
"When I was coming home, I saw a man beating a woman who turned out to be his wife. I tried my best to help her, but I couldn't do much because I had another important task to attend to," he explained, touching the briefcase.
The woman sighed, her expression turning dull. She thought to herself, "So this is what he's worried about? Why does my husband feel the need to get involved in other people's problems, especially women's problems?"
"Every woman in this world is facing different kinds of problems. It's not your responsibility to help every oppressed woman you come across. Besides, you haven't started a charity to help them," she said, trying to reason with him.
Dayylam nodded slightly. "I know, but whenever I see women who are victims of men's cruelty, it reminds me of my mom," he lowered his head. "I wonder what he would have done to her," he expressed his concern. Danielle frowned and replied, "Don't exhaust yourself thinking about her. She lived with that man even before she met you."
" Don't think about them Dayylam, it's not your problem. My heart aches when I see you sad. Please Dayylam! Be happy For me. Don't you feel pity for your own wife ? '' After putting a heavy stone on heart she finally spoke some words to calm down her husband, internally she was not feeling his concern for women good at all, but after all, she was his wife she had to make him feel comfortable and that's what good wifes do .
Dayylam smiled and gave a light nod to her, he had to return his good mood to his dear wife. " Ok ! We have carefully taken out our money, let's celebrate it together"
" Ahh ! No way, Dayylam. Not now. We will definitely celebrate after we take out all the money and leave this country " Danielle strictly denied her.
In the closed shop on the empty street of Saroi market (which is the smallest market in Parazy city ) Haru was standing staring at her "Aren't you ashamed, he tried to save you and you stole his briefcase" Haru said with a stern voice like he is a saint, and God allowed him to sin and made shame forbidden on him.
She lifted her face up and raised her brows, her eyes were sparkling with something, not with tears but some kind of a mysteriousness which was unable to explain.
"No!! " Her words echoed in the shop.
"No! Not a bit." She shamelessly accepted her deed. Haru narrowed his eyes and then they both laughed together.
Haru was laughing while hugging his stomach, he clapped his hands in appreciation " WOW! WOW pineapple ! What a great acting, hats off to you"
Pineapple?? Was she Aveline?? And he was that mysterious caller???
She giggled and playfully bowed to accept the praises. "Thank you! Thank you! But save those good lines. After getting home, you can appreciate me as much as you want and even write a whole essay in my praise. But right now, I'm hungry and tired. I just want to go home and sleep tight. Okay?"
He teasingly responded, "Yes, what else do you do except sleeping, Pipeline?" He playfully touched her nose with his finger, and she swiftly jerked away, questioning, "What's Pipeline? Okay, fine... Mr. Graveyard..."
"Graveyard," he repeated her words, and something flickered in his eyes, which he carefully concealed from her. "Blue tail is far better than graveyard," he said, showing his disapproval.
"Exactly! Pineapple is far better than Pipeline," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Okay, my dear little Pineapple. You're hungry, right? Let's go home," he said, showing the car keys to her.
"Yeah! Let's go, Blue Tail," she winked, beckoning him to follow her.
**"""
3:00 am
In the luxurious society of Parazy…..
Behind the book rack of the study, there was a secret room where he was sitting in front of the computer, staring at the white screen.
He was the cruel husband who was bent on killing his wife on the road, Haru. He had Dark circles under his eyes, tangled hair coming down from the ears. He had a messy beard and pimples on his face, and a thick mole on his nose. If it weren't a bad thing to call someone ugly, then it could be said that he was extremely ugly.
'Loading' was displayed on the computer screen. Impatiently waiting in front of the computer, he anxiously bit his thumbnail.
" Damn it !" he exclaimed " Ahhh Edward !! How can your hacking skills be so weak?" He cried
Just then, the secret room's door opened and a woman walked in. He didn't bother to look back, as he already knew who she was. " Pineapple, he tightened the security on his website, I can't hack it," he said, his voice having a hint of sadness.
So, she was his Pineapple, the one who had stolen Dayylam's briefcase. But wait! She didn't look like the woman who had stolen the briefcase. She was different.
She was young, while the briefcase thief was in her forties. This girl had long, silky black hair flowing freely, whereas the thief had messy blonde hair tied roughly in a ponytail.
The girl was slim and tall, just like the woman who had come in front Dayylam's car, but the thief was overweight. The girl had flawless milky-white skin, while the woman who was Haru's wife, had numerous scars on her body. This girl looked nothing like the woman with such a dire condition. She resembled someone else…
She was the same girl who had been cheated on by her fiancé at the Night-Out restaurant and the best friend of Zhang Wei, Adeline.
She wore a cream-colored T-shirt, her hands partially exposed from the short sleeves, and her long milky-white legs were visible in her blue jean shorts. Even in casual attire, she looked stunning, just as she was looking in that lavish store.
Adeline went over and switched on the lights, lightning the entire room. The room looked nothing less than a detective's room.
Where Haru was sitting was some kind of office table that was placed in the middle of the room, the front wall of the room was covered in bulletin boards adorned with many sticky notes, newspaper clippings, torn magazine pages, and various other pages were pinned on it.
The right side of the room held a rack filled with files, while the other half was occupied by a whiteboard. There was a sofa set lined up next to the left side wall of the room. She went and sat there, holding the same briefcase that the Dayylam had.
" Leave it for now, we'll discuss it later. Now you come here so that we can talk about other things" She said softly, her voice was so soft and soothing enough to melt anyone's heart.
Haru shut down the computer and sat on the opposite sofa in response. As she looked up at him, she suddenly screamed, "Aaaaaaa! What the…"
Haru was startled by her sudden outburst. "What happened? Are you crazy? Why are you screaming?" he asked.
She placed her hand on her chest, grabbed the cushion next to her, and threw it at him. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, pretending that the soft cushion had actually hurt him. To be honest, he wasn't looking cute while doing it.
"Why haven't you changed your get-up yet? I nearly had a heart attack! I thought, 'Who is this ugly-looking man sitting in front of me?'" she exclaimed.
"I was about to change, but I had to finish some work that i left unfinished before going out. And by the way, I'm not looking that bad," he defended himself, refusing to accept being called ugly, despite knowing that how awful he was looking in that get-up. .
"Go and look in the mirror. You'll see by yourself that you are looking no less than a zombie's offspring," she said, wrinkling her nose. She took out her mobile phone from her short's pocket and secretly captured his face. Of course, she planned to show his future kids how their dad looked before they came into his life.
"My dear friend Adeline, I've told you a thousand times that I have no connection with your family. I'm a human being, even from the normal ones . Don't mix me up with your ancestors. Got it, you witch?" he retorted, throwing the cushion back at her.
Adeline looked at him in disbelief. "I'm a witch?" Her nostrils flared as her brain registered that he had indeed called her a witch.
She rushed towards him so that she could give him a good beating to make him understand that calling a beautiful girl a witch is a grave sin.
However, he quickly jumped off the sofa and ran to the get-up room before she could reach him. "Stupid, duffer, idiot!" she yelled at him as he locked himself inside to protect himself from the "witch."
" How much time do we have left to execute the next part of the plan," He asked. They were now in the bedroom discussing the further part of their plan.
Haru had changed his get-up, and now he wasn't looking like that ugly, horrible, and weird man. His long black hair, beard, dark circles, pimples, and that mole on his nose were nowhere to be seen. Now a cute young man had taken the place of that ugly man.
He had fair skin, a bright triangular-shaped face, square eyebrows, and striking diamond-blue eyes framed by small but thick curled eyelashes. His nose was perfect, and he had a well-defined jawline.
He had an attractive face that was both soft and masculine, he got dimples which was giving his face extra softness and made him look more charming. He was not extremely muscular, with 8-pack abs or bulging biceps. However, no one could unnoticed his prominent figure in the crowd, which was mostly due to his tall height and striking personality.
He was none other than Adeline's best friend, Edward…
The duo had cleverly disguised themselves, concealing their true appearances from Dayylam. They were truly experts in the art of disguise.
She picked up the briefcase and placed it on her lap. "When you distracted him, I switched his briefcase with mine, which was filled with fake money bundles. I'm confident that they won't spend or move the money to any secure location within the next twenty-four hours. They definitely wouldn't want to raise any suspicion," she said, gently tapping the briefcase.
"That means we have 24 hours to steal the rest of the money that is safely stored in their clinic's secret locker. " Edward answered his question by himself after hearing her explanation.
"Wrong!" she exclaimed. "We don't have much time. According to their plan, they were going to take out money from the locker in three turns over the span of a week, and today was their first turn.
Luckily, we don't have to wait for their second and third turns because we're going to take out all the money tomorrow. We have less than 24 hours to steal the money. I already know the password of their locker, so it will be easy for me to bring out the money," Adeline said as she opened the briefcase.
"And what if they find out or recognize the fake currency we placed in the suitcase in less than twenty four hours? " he asked.
"Don't worry, Edward. They won't, and even if they do find out about the robbery, they won't report the theft to the police, " she reassured.
" Cause the money they saved is illegal itself" Edward said .
"Yes, exactly!!!.
you know that when patients who have been shot, stabbed, or attempted suicide go to government or private hospitals, the hospital administration has a legal duty to inform the police about such patients, Right?? " She asked and He nodded his head in agreement
"These kinds of patients have to provide details about their injuries, like how it happened and who did it. Criminals face difficulties in getting treatment because they can't answer these questions. So, they either try to treat themselves or go to private doctors. If their condition worsens, they turn to private clinics that provide illegal treatment.
Dayylam and his wife give treatment to criminals in their private clinic and in return criminals pay them huge sums of money which is a crime. These people have made this money illegally and saved it in their locker. If they were to report a theft, they would be required to provide details of their ill-gotten money, like how they obtained such a large amount of money. " She explained, putting out some bundles of currency.
" Hmm right "
He rested his elbow on a pillow in his lap, placing his chin on his palm. "Everything seems to be in order, but Adieee, tell me, how were you so sure that he would fall into your oppressed-lady trap?" he asked, showing great interest in the reason behind her creation of this particular trap.
" Oh Come on Edward! It was not a big deal for me to create these kinds of traps after all I'm a grifter" She said, lifting her nose up in pride.
" I know, I know. I'm a grifter too, and my trap wasn't bad either. It would have definitely worked if you had allowed me to do it. I'm just asking why you were so sure it would work," Edward felt that she was overshadowing his trap-making abilities, so he quickly defended himself.
"He respects and feels pity and concern for women, and I'm not sure why, but he does. When I found out about this, I decided to test it out. I approached him, pretending to be a victim of abuse, and acted as if I saved his life from a dangerous situation that I actually caused.
Through this indirect approach, I conveyed to him that I needed a job. As a result, he hired me as a nurse in his clinic. But that's not all, he also donates to NGOs for women and supports various women's rights campaigns. His wife strongly dislikes his sympathetic attitude towards women. That's why I was confident that he would definitely stand up for a woman who was being mistreated by her husband right in front of his eyes." She clarified the reason, ending his curiosity.
"Poor him! I bet he won't donate or feel pity for women once he finds out how a woman made fun of his emotions," he laughed, imagining the expression on Dayylam's face when he discovers how badly he's been deceived.
"Exactly. Enemies take advantage of a competitor's weaknesses, and thieves like us take advantage not only of their weaknesses but also their goodness," she said. She started taking bundles of money out of the briefcase and placing them on the bed in front of him.
"By the way every day you are learning many things from me. Good good! Keep learning " Edward didn't miss the opportunity to praise himself.
Her ears turned red. "I am learning from you!" she exclaimed, pointing her index finger at herself. She couldn't digest his words at all. "You don't even know what two plus two is, and you're saying that I'm learning from you? First, learn to wash your face properly, then teach someone something," she spat out what came into her mouth. "Every day you're learning many things from me." She mimicked his sentence and tone and felt relieved after insulting him.
He muttered many bad words in anger and fell silent.